When We First Met
by Silence Is Not Golden
Summary: How could she forget how they met? His bright amber eyes watched her with childlike wonder. They've met before. Before that faithful night in Fennmont. That is why she felt so connected to him. -One-shot- Jude x Milla


**Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates the holiday and have a Happy New Year!**

**This story takes place sometime after chapter 11**

…

_Marksburg: Elympios side_

Leia howls in excitement. Today is such a nice day and her group is eating outside in a nice restaurant like normal people. No fighting monsters, no jumping into alternate dimensions and no searching for cats. Today is just wholesome relaxation with good food and even better company. "Leia, can you pass the sauce?" Jude Mathis, her childhood friend, waves at her direction. "Sure Jude." Alvin nudges her side and points at the bowl of potatoes. She glares at him but hands it to him nonetheless. He grumbles out a "thank you," but it comes out all muffled due to his mouth being stuffed with food. Elize places Teepo on her lap and notices Alvin suspiciously eyeing her Pot au Feu. She blocks Alvin's sneaky attempt to steal a piece of beef with her fork. Annoyed by his actions, she kicks the brunette's shin.

Rowen quietly sits beside Gaius drinking his tea. Enjoying the carefree attitude his younger friends are exuding puts him at great ease. Sometimes, he thinks there are too many stresses in their lives and that they don't enjoy their youth the way they should. The ambassador shifts his head to the right and watches Gaius interact with the young Elle Mel Marta. The king of Rieze Maxia skillfully slices his steak into perfect square bites. He offers to cut Elle's chicken bites and although her meal doesn't require any cutting, she takes him up on his offer. The 8-year-old claps her hand at the show. Elle tells Gaius to chop Ludger's meat too, which he gladly complies. The dual-wielder couldn't refuse them considering Elle and the King are ganging up on him. Muzet hovers above them, sniffing curiously at the Napple fruit her younger sister had given her. Leia smiles at everyone.

Then, she stares at her unusually reticent friend sitting across from her. By now, Milla Maxwell would've been scarfing down plates of food, catapulting their food bill to an exorbitant amount but today she is subtly observing Jude eating his meal. The spyrite researcher doesn't seem to realize it because if he did, he would be blushing up a storm. After a few moments, Milla turns her head to the side, looking at the table adjacent to theirs. Sitting there is a woman with her baby. She is feeding him with an orange goop that strangely resembles smoosh carrots. Tilting her head, the Lord of Spirits stares at the human baby gurgling gleefully at his mother. Moments later, the infant starts bawling when his mother stop feeding him.

The cries of the infant evoke a memory from her childhood. "_Bye bye, Jude." _Memories flood her head, flowing through her consciousness, flashing bits and pieces of a long forgotten encounter. There is an omission, a blank that never filled itself. It was been fifteen years ago.

_How could I forget?_

…

_Fifteen years ago. Nia Khera: Milla's Shrine _

6-year-old Milla Maxwell blankly reads the book the four great spirits had presented to her. They meant well by the gift but she has already finished the book, like so many of the other human novels the Four had given her. "Tch. So bored." Her guardian spirits are out somewhere, hunting down these cultists group called Exodus and they refused to bring her in their expeditions because she is still inexperience. The young Maxwell kicks her feet up in the air and angrily blames the Four for her bored state. If they never bring her along, how will she learn? In one of the books she read it stated that experience is knowledge. Knowledge is important. It is key so why is it that her guardians are impeding her growth. The blonde haired lass scratch her head in frustration. "I hate you, Four!" screams Milla. Being Maxwell is boring.

Out of the blue, an ear shattering ring pierces her ears and she clutches them in pain. There are spirits dying somewhere far away. One or more individual is using spyrix, a human invention that allows any person without a mana lobe to channel spirit artes at the cost of lesser spirits' lives. Tears trickles down her eyes as she helplessly listens to the dying voices of the spirits. For the rest of the day, she crawls into a ball and hum a song Undine had taught her. The great spirit of water made her memorize this tune for times when Milla cannot handle the anguish cries of their brethren.

Tormented screams continue to claw at her. She felt them dying, as if she is fading away herself. "Stop. Please." Something warm suddenly envelopes her small body so she creaks her eyes open. Slyph is the first to greet her. The wind spirit flicks her forehead and as a result, Milla pinches his cheeks. "_You little brat, let me go!"_

"You deserve it. Do not leave me here by myself. Bring me with you in your following excursion." Undine and Efreet stares at their young charge and nods their heads at her. Efreet crosses his hands. "_Next time you will accompany us, Milla." _

The next day arrives and Milla sits in the middle of her hut, alone. "You lied to me!" Closing her eyes, she initiates the spirit arte that summons the Four. She raises her hand but freezes for a second. Remembering the next step always stumps her. "Oh right." Milla finishes the ritual but when the Four fails to appear, she chucks a nearby book against the wall and growls. She lies down, belly first, on the cold wooden floor and buries her head in her arms.

Milla blinks her eyes. She can hear the laughter of children. Panic surges within her. "Human children? Here?"

Through the walls of her hut, she can hear them talking. "Do you really think Maxwell lives there?" A young boy begins to speaks and throws a ball against the front door. Milla jumps at the small thud the impact created. "Who knows? That's what our elders say." A young girl is the next speaker. "Ivar, what are you doing?" There is someone knocking on the door to the chagrin of the young Lord of Spirits. "Quit it, Ivar. You might anger Maxwell." The boy teases. Small grunts come out of the boy named Ivar as he points towards the door of the shrine. "C'mon. Let's play catch!" Milla suddenly perks up at the word. She knows what the activity, "playing catch," entails. Wanting to reveal herself to the children and play with them, she bolts for the door. However, she quickly changes her mind. How would she converse with human children? Her shyness dissuades her from going outside.

It must have been an hour or so since the children arrive at her shrine. "Hey, you see the clouds." One child calls out. "It's going to rain soon. We should go home. Ivar, pick up the ball." Milla breathes a sigh of relief. Later on, one of the human boys yells out her name. "See ya, Maxwell-sama!" Once the coast is clear, she pops her head out the door and mumbles out a soft farewell to the boy.

She is alone again.

A week has gone by and Efreet finally notifies Milla that they will be taking her somewhere. "Where, Efreet?" She runs outside and Slyph easily lifts her from the ground and takes off to the skies. "_There is a small island, north of a town called Leronde. Sequestered on the island lies the main headquarters of the Exodus group we mentioned to you before. We are to go there and annihilate them for using spyrix technology." _Milla nods and doesn't question the Four's intentions. That is right. That is her mission as Maxwell. To destroy spyrix and its user so her kind won't have to suffer anymore.

The ringing from the deaths of spirits starts to invade her ears but Gnome swiftly covers it for her with his own floppy ears. After travelling for a few hours, they finally arrive on the island. Undine assigns Gnome to stay with Milla while she and the others scout the area. Milla pouts at this plan but goes along with it. Gnome and Milla are alone."Oh what is that? Come look at this, Milla." Gnome floats towards a caterpillar and plays with it. "Yes, I will be right there!" She takes this opportunity and flees through the forest. "Milla?" The great spirit of earth turns around and finds no Milla. "Uh-oh."

Milla runs far away from Gnome and grins triumphantly when she succeeds in her escape. Panting hard from her run, she sits on the ground and rests for a minute. After her small break, she glances up and hears an unfamiliar shriek. "Huh? What is that?" Following the source of the noise, Milla stumbles upon a small village. She hides behind a tree and waits for the noise to erupt again.

"Waahhh!" Could this be a baby's cry? Cautiously approaching the house that holds the crying baby, she peers through the open window and checks up on it. It sounds like it is hurt. Concern nags at her. Milla climbs on the window and rushes to the bed. The moment she shows up, the baby stops crying. Huge amber eyes gawks at her. "Hi! My name is Milla. What is your name?" As a response, the baby gurgles at her. "I do not understand you." She pokes his chubby cheeks, which the baby enjoys. Giggling with him, she tickles his belly and again she is rewarded with his adorable laughter. "You like that, huh." She leans in closer and the baby latches onto her long blonde locks and tugs at it. "Stop that!" Milla manages to pry him off but not without upsetting him. He is in distress. Reviewing a chapter about child rearing, Milla brings him into her arms and gently rocks him. The small human ceases his wailing.

Milla looks around for any sign of human presence but there's none. "The baby should not be left alone. He would be lonely." The human boy shivers so she searches the area for something to keep him warm. Hanging on a chair is a blue hoody sweater that matches his size. "This should work." Carrying the human with her, she climbs out of the window and begins her exploration of the island with her new friend. "Right now, I do not wish for you to be by yourself, ergo I will take you and we can go on an adventure. You would like that right?" The black haired baby lets out a quiet coo, as if he is agreeing with her. "I will borrow you for the day."

Exiting the forest, she comes across a small creek. "Look, fish." Milla sits on the ground and places the baby on her lap. He is clapping at the fish jumping out of the water. She scoots a little closer to the water and dips her hand into the cool creek. The baby imitates her and almost falls down into the water but she promptly catches him. "Be careful, little human." He giggles and she can't help the smile forming on her lips. "You are amusing." Milla plays with the small child, using games like "peek-a-boo" to entertain him. Later on, the baby becomes fussy again and none of her tickling is working.

"What is the matter?" A full blown crying episode starts. "H-hey! Come on now." She tries to soothe him by rocking him gently like last time but her action is not as effective as before. "Are you okay?" The baby's cheeks are so flush from his crying that she's afraid he'll hurt himself. "Oh!" An idea hit her. "You are hungry?" Assaulting her ears with more of his sobbing answers her question. "Fine. We will find something to eat." Scouring around the area, she encounters several small trees around the creek and notices a cluster of purplish-black berries hanging down from it. She pokes the cluster of fruit with a long stick until it drops from its branch. Milla presents it to the starving baby.

"This seems edible. Let us wash it." She walks to the water and cleans the fruit she found. Judging by its appearance, it might be grapes. She read a book about these small berries once. Plopping one in her mouth won't hurt, just to inspect its taste. Finding the sweet, tangy flavor agreeable, the young Milla Maxwell sits him on her lap and hover a grape near his mouth. However, she reminds herself that the baby might choke on such a big piece. The blonde haired spirit bites off a small sliver of the round fruit, and puts it near the tyke's mouth. He chomps down on it and smacks his lips. "So you have a penchant for it." She repeats her earlier deed until the tiny human is satisfied.

He burps.

"I suppose you are full now, correct? What should we do next?" Looking around for their next activity, she sees dozens of thick leaves scatter about and applies what Slyph had taught her to the test. "Hey, little guy. I am going to create a ball from these leaves. Watch." The baby wraps his tiny hand around her finger. "Do not touch." Constructing the ball is quite difficult with a cute tot distracting you every minute but she accomplishes what she sets out to do. "Ta-da!" Milla parks him on the soft grass and sits across from him. She throws the ball to him.

"Throw it back!" The ball flies to the side. "Hey, I am right here, not there." The baby tilts his head and gapes at her with his amber eyes. "What?" Again, she chucks the ball to the boy and surprisingly enough, he reciprocates and mimics her behavior. "Good boy!" Once they gain their momentum, the pair is playing catch the way Milla imagined. His throws are weak but he's trying and that's all she can ask for.

"Yo!" Milla stops dead in her tracks. "What are you guys up to?" Two children around her age, a boy and girl, approaches them. "P-playing catch." She stutters out. "Oh yeah? We're kinda bored so can we join?" Casually, the boy grins at her, believing that they are from the other village around here. The young Maxwell looks at the two like they just asked her the meaning of life.

"Is that a yes?"

"Sure!"

The children ask Milla how she made the ball out of leaves so she decides on teaching them her method. Her little friend happily nibbles on his thumb and follows Milla's hands as she instructs the two youngsters how to make the ball. He claps his hand together when they finish. "Woah, that's nifty. How'd you learn this?" Replying with "Slyph showed me" would only bring about more questions than she would like so she settles with a response most humans would accept. "My parents instructed me on how to utilize what is given to you in the environment, in cases of emergency. I am often bored so they ingrained this particular lesson into me." The girl with a pink bowtie on her head giggles. "You talk funny."

Milla believe they had taken offence to her words but the twinkle of happiness in their eyes depicts a different story. "Thanks for the lesson, teach!" The lad digs into the pocket of his brown shorts and hands her a blue glass bead.

"For me?"

"Yeah! Thanks again! We gotta get home soon so maybe we can play again some other time?" He waves goodbye to the amber-eyed child and Milla. "Bye…" Plopping herself next to her junior friend, she notices him wobbling over. She balances him and immediately he leans into her, his eyelids drooping down slowly till they're fully shut. The poor thing must be tired from all the activities they've been doing. She lies down lightly, bringing him along with her. "A little nap will not hurt anybody." She cuddles him close to her chest like a doll and wishes that today would never end.

A sharp clang wakes Milla up from her slumber. Spirits are dying nearby. Not just a few but hundreds no thousands of them are screaming in anguish. Her ears feel like they are bleeding. The jerky movement she made stirs the young boy from his sleep, dousing her in his weeping. Focusing her attention on the boy, she hugs him close and is grateful for his deafening cries. It seems to help subdue the tormented screeching of the fading spirits. "Let us depart. I need to find what is causing this."

They must have overslept since nightfall is apparent in the sky. After several minutes of trekking about the dark forest, she chance upon a laboratory. Heavy smoke bellows from the metal roof of the massive construct. Parts of the building are breaking off and most of the windows are shattered, its glassy remains littered all over the compound. The ground beneath the structure is split open, gradually submerging it underground. It is like a war broke through this place. Troubled screams of humans in the distance linger in the air. "I wonder what is going on, little guy?" Milla feels like she is being stab in her ears again. The volume of the wailings is obviously getting louder and louder.

Noticing her despair, the little boy tries to comfort her by covering her ears with his little bitty hands. "You are quite smart." More agonizing shrieks snake their way into her senses.

The weak, waning spirits advances towards her. A man limps to her holding a gun-like spyrix weapon in his hand. The grey haired man glares at Milla but he doesn't faze her. "Gilland! What are you doing? We need to go. Those spirits are going berserk." An associate of this man called Gilland calls out to him.

"You. Are you the head of the Exodus group?" Gilland is surprise at the commanding tone of the girl in front of him. "If so, I order you to cease all operations of spyrix. Do you not know what you are causing? Killing off my kin is a crime against spirit kind. I will not tolerate this." The older man cackles and roughly grabs Milla's arm. Unable to fight off his considerable strength, Milla is thrown onto the dirty but he snatches the small child away from her.

_No, the boy_!

"I don't know who think you are but you can stop me if you'd like." The young boy goes into a wild fit, irritating the spyrix user. "What are you blabbering on about? You want to protect spirits? Why? They're expendable. They're like cockroaches, multiplying like clockwork." His grip on the boy's arm tightens. "This boy a little spirit too?" Disgusted by the fact that he might be holding a spirit, Gilland drops the little one on the ground, but Milla darts towards the boy to catch him. "Disgusting." He hoists his foot up and unleashes an onslaught of harsh kicks at them. She shields the human child with her own body and bites her tongue when the heel of his boots digs into her flesh.

_Why are you doing this?_

The words Gilland spouted out echoes in her head, kindling a fire within her.

"_They're expendable. They're like cockroaches."_

_Protect…_

The strong should be protecting the innocents and the helpless, not hurting them. She pulls the boy even closer to her body so she can absorb any blow their assailant throws at them. A kick to her ribs stings but nothing can compare to the anguish coming out his cursed weapon. Dark thoughts swim through her mind but she speedily dispels them. Humans are not all bad, she reassures herself. Humans like this man, however, are a cyst in the world. Mankind and spiritkind alike will not suffer because of the folly men like him exhibit.

The boy's whimpering awakens something within her. Gritting her teeth, she allows that fire to swell, burning away her soft, childish outer shell.

She will defend.

She wants to protect this tiny thing.

_I will protect you._

She is Maxwell, Lord of Spirits. That is her duty.

Milla glances down at the tearful face of the little human and smiles. "Four." Gilland scurries away when the four spirits that were destroying the base circles around the blonde haired girl. Standing upright, she picks up the small human and Gilland collapses to his knees. "Listen and remember me. I am Maxwell, Lord of Spirits. You can run now if you wish. However, your time will end sooner or later." She raises her free and orders the four to completely demolish the laboratory. "If you survive, do not worry, I will hunt you down." He dashes off in fear but he etches this event deep in his mind. Once the building crumbles, taking mostly everyone with it, the Four confronts Milla.

"_Milla!" _Undine inspects the wounds carpeted over Milla's body. "I am well, Undine." The boy grips his hand around her neck and buries his head at the crook of it. "We need to return this human back to his parents."

"_I am not even going to inquire how you managed to obtain this child." _Efreet crosses his arms. There is something oddly different about her. For the first time, she referred to herself as the Lord of Spirits, a term she did not like to use on any occasion. Slyph shakes his head. The four proceeds to the village Milla described she found the child. As soon as she lands, she hides behind a tree and studies the house where she and the lad had met.

By the front door, a dark haired man wearing glasses questions another human. He wears a white coat similar to the doctors mentioned in her books. "Where is Jude? My wife informs me that she placed him in your care for a few hours while she stepped out. Now where is my son?" Anger spills out the man's voice. "Mathis-sensei, he's here. I swear!"

"Is he your father?" The window is still open from this morning so she hops in. "Jude, huh?" She rubs his belly. He coos. "Thanks for playing with me, Jude. Thank you for waking me up." For the last time, he grabs her hair. Milla laughs and kisses him on his pudgy cheeks. Her loneliness disappears. "Bye bye, Jude. I hope we meet again."

…

_Present time_

Jude pats his belly in satisfaction. "That was a good meal." His face slightly reddens when he becomes aware of Milla's scrutinizing magenta eyes on him. "Milla, you haven't touched your food. Does your stomach hurt?" He mentally kicks himself. Do spirits even have stomachaches?

"No, it does not." Jude smiles warmly at her. " So you're just not hungry? That's not like you." Noting the untouched bowl of grapes in the middle of the table, she plucks a piece from the group and slips the fruit in his mouth. Startled by the suddenness of her movement, he swallows the berry instead of chewing it. He coughs. " I am sorry if my actions caused you some alarm." She sounds apologetic but there is a slight humor in her tone. "It's all right."

Milla cups his cheek and savors the warmth of his skin. _So that is why I feel so connected to you. How could I forget?_

Never breaking eye contact with him, she intertwines her hand with his. Despite their hands being under the table, he still feels embarrassed. If Alvin and Rowen sees this, they'll surely tease him for it.

"Milla?" She spreads her arms out and brings him close to her chest for an embrace. Butterflies raid his stomach. He squirms nervously as she deepens their embrace. Baffled by the Lord of Spirits' abnormal behavior, he simply gives in and returns the hug. The pulsing of her heart beats erratically. Milla's scent of peppermint and freesia savages his nostrils, relaxing his firm body. He can feel her hot breath against his ears, tickling the sensitive skin around his ears. She whispers a few words only he can hear. "We found each other again. I am who I am because of you." Jude is confused by what she meant. "What do you mean?"

Before she can respond, Muzet interrupts them. "Oh my! Is this what you humans refer to as "doing it?" Naughty, naughty." The winged spirit mischievously giggles. Jude can hear the snickering of his friends. "Not even close, Muzet." Alvin is the first to voice his opinion. "But they're acting more lovey-dovey than usual." Rowen noisily sips his beverage and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Ah the beauty of youth. It is simply magnificent." Leia merely grins. "They're off to their own little world." Elle pretends to retch. "Gross! You guys aren't the only ones here, you know!" Jude bounces away from her arms and anxiously rubs his head. She doesn't resist when he pulls away from her. Giving him one last look, Milla changes her attention to her now lukewarm meal.

_Thank you, Jude. _

"Milla?" Jude faces her again and tenderly smiles at her as if her three simple words reached to him.

…

**Thank you all for reading! This was inspired by a short story in the Tales of Xillia Official World Guidance Book. I'd post the link but FF doesn't seem to like links.**

**If you haven't done so, I suggest that you do if you have any interest in the story of Xillia.**

**I am also writing a multi-chapter JudexMilla story titled, Sightless (pending title, really), so keep an eye for that.**

**Drop a review or comment when you get a chance. Have a nice day!**


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